128 PURCHASE OF REMOUNT HORSES FOR INDIA. 
arrival there of Colonel Robbins, to purchase and forward 
remount troop horses for India, without the assistance of a 
veterinary surgeon. The value of the profession, therefore, 
it would appear, is still not yet appreciated nor acknowledged, 
even in such an important duty as the purchase of horses. 
And I am sorry to be obliged to add that the equally 
important matter of veterinary hygiene on board ship does not 
receive due attention. I know Colonel Robbins well. He 
is an active gentlemanly man, having a great fondness for 
horses, but he is not a veterinary surgeon, and, therefore, 
although actuated by the best intentions, he will be sure to 
make some mistakes. The consequence of this course of pro¬ 
cedure is, that the mortality among the Australian horses 
shipped, so I am informed, is twenty per cent, against our two 
percent. And all this while, I understand, there are five 
unemployed veterinary surgeons in Calcutta belonging to re¬ 
volted regiments. I always put on board every ship a horse- 
medicine chest, with doses of prepared medicines, labelled 
ready for use, and the required simple instruments ; also the 
necessaries for the treatment of sick horses, with instructions 
suitable for unskilled persons for the treatment of those dis¬ 
eases likely to occur on board ship. This, I hope, is useful, 
for by accounts kept and reports made on the return of 
persons put in charge, those cases of disease do occur, and 
the remedies I have recommended, according to the symp¬ 
toms shown, have had the desired effect; I consequently 
do not think that it is presuming too much to conclude that our 
arrangements have been of service in producing the low rate 
of mortality among the horses; which, of course, is a great 
saving to the Government, and an advantage to the army in 
every respect. 
Mr. Gibton’s sensible and excellent letter brings forward 
the subject in rather a strong point of view, showing the 
great difference experienced in the shipping of horses from 
this place and Australia, and is one which the heads of our 
profession — I mean the president and council, of the 
Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons—ought to consider, 
for it is a vital one. Are the members of the veterinary 
profession, as a body, useless and unprofitable as Government 
servants to the public, or not? If they are, recommend their 
non-employment. But I believe they constitute a most useful 
and valuable body, and one which has never yet been em¬ 
ployed to the full extent of its usefulness. This, then, should 
be acknowledged, and brought prominently before the public; 
and the profession, as a consequence, would derive the bene¬ 
fits which ought to accrue from its labours, while their ser- 
